Hell Emperor.

Chapter 629 Ye Jie - Secrets
Open the silver box, and a flute lies quietly inside.

Compared to the last one, the flute is of even higher quality, having reached the level of a fifth-grade magic artifact, enough to tempt many immortals.

However, for Ye Jie now, no matter what the grade of the magic treasure in the box is, as long as it is not at the level of a divine artifact, it is difficult for him to care about it. He glanced at it and lost interest in the flute magic treasure.

Even the Peacock King wasn't interested in this magic weapon related to the Way of Music. The Way of Music was a niche path, and with his cultivation level, it was impossible for him to switch to music cultivation just for a mere magic weapon. In the end, Ye Jie kept it.

As the silver box was opened, a distinct mechanical sound came from the wall in front, revealing a staircase leading up to the rear.

Of course, no one would back down here. Their purpose in coming here was to explore the ruins and obtain the rewards from the depths of the ruins. Now that they had finally reached a higher floor, they naturally wanted to continue climbing.

Continuing upwards, the floors become even more spacious. This time, the mural depicts an incomparably powerful war elephant, whose imposing aura is approaching that of the fifth level of cultivation.

Even Ye Jie couldn't help but nod slightly when he saw the war elephant. Such a powerful war elephant was quite rare, and its fifth-level cultivation gave it formidable strength.

However, the cultivation levels of everyone present were much higher than its. Not to mention Ye Jie, even the other two could easily deal with it.

With just a slight movement, the Peacock King completely crushed the war elephant, which, like the previous enemies, turned into a wisp of lingering green smoke.

The smoke condensed, and soon a magnificent golden box appeared in the center of the room. The moment the box appeared, the entire pagoda began to shake violently.

The Peacock King sensed something and reminded us, "This is the top floor. Hurry up and take what's in the box and leave. There's nothing left in this pagoda. It might not be long before the entire pagoda collapses. Although with our cultivation level, we don't need to worry too much about getting hurt, it will still be a bit troublesome."

Beside him, the gray-robed man shared the same thought. The two of them knew more about the interior of the ruins than Ye Jie did. Ye Jie then took out the item from the box, which was a piece of white, jade-like ivory, and left with the two of them.

The moment everyone stepped out of the pagoda, it seemed as if the pagoda had lost its protective power and collapsed, eventually turning into ruins.

Ye Jie withdrew his gaze. The ivory looked like an excellent refining material. Its full white luster indicated that it could definitely be used to forge a divine artifact, so he kept it for himself.

More than the ivory itself, the vast array of pagodas in front of him attracted Ye Jie's attention. As if he had thought of something, he asked, "There are thousands of pagodas in the ruins, if you count them roughly, there must be at least tens of thousands. Could it be that the interior of the pagodas is exactly as we just saw?"

The Peacock King nodded: "That's right. All the treasures and wonders of this ruin are stored in the pagoda. Only by sweeping away the guardians in the murals on each level, as we just did, can we obtain the wonders stored in a pagoda. The Peacock Feather of the Vidyaraja you want is definitely stored in one of the pagodas here, but we don't know which pagoda it is."

Ye Jie understood. It seemed that conquering just one pagoda wasn't enough; they needed to find a way to break through more pagodas. He then asked, "Judging from the outside, that pagoda clearly had more than three stories, but we only climbed three stories and took all the treasures inside. Are all pagodas the same? Are there only three stories in each one?"

After a moment's thought, the Peacock King finally nodded: "That's right. When my companions and I came to this ruin before, we could only climb up to three levels at most."

The gray-robed man, however, thought differently: "But I've heard that the pagoda here has more than three stories; it seems that someone has climbed to a place above the third story."

Ye Jie frowned. It seemed the problem lay here. However, with the current exploration, he couldn't discern the hidden secrets within the pagoda at all. He then said:

"By the way, when we were planning to come to the ruins, weren't you all quite worried about disturbing the monsters inside? But I haven't seen anything."

Upon hearing Ye Jie mention this, the Peacock King's face showed a hint of lingering fear:
"At first, my companions and I didn't believe the rumors about the guardians at all, and we explored the stupa in the ruins to our hearts' content. It was this behavior that ultimately got us into trouble..."

The Peacock King paused, trying to calm the shock in his heart, before speaking:
"We breached seven pagodas in succession, but as we climbed the eighth, an unexpected event occurred. Inside that pagoda, the depiction on the walls was not that of an ordinary guardian, but a monster engulfed in raging demonic flames and shrouded in black mist. That monster easily slaughtered all my companions; no one could survive its attacks. Even I was no match for it and was driven to the brink of despair... Only afterward did I learn from others that the monster was actually the guardian of this ruin!"

Ye Jie seemed to have figured something out and asked again, "If that's the case, then how did you survive? Did you perhaps find a way to repel the monster?"

Upon hearing Ye Jie's question, the Peacock King seemed somewhat hesitant to speak, but under Ye Jie's persistent questioning, he finally had no choice but to reveal the truth:
"No... Watching my companions being torn apart one by one, I completely lost the courage to fight against the monster. I couldn't even hold my weapon steady. I could only keep begging the monster for mercy, swearing that I would leave the ruins and never return to this place. It must have understood my words, because it finally let me go."

"Yeah……"

Upon learning of the Peacock King's experience, Ye Jie couldn't help but twitch his lips. He never expected that the Peacock King had only managed to save his life from the monster by begging for mercy. Ye Jie had thought that the Peacock King had some unique way of saving his life, but now it seemed that he was just lucky.

The gray-robed man chimed in, "According to my investigation, the monster you encountered was not only the guardian of the ruins, but also the ruler of the Mauryan Dynasty hundreds of years ago, and the builder of these pagodas. You were able to escape his clutches thanks to the oath you made, but now you've broken that oath and returned to this place, which is truly an ominous sign..."

The Peacock King said irritably, "Don't curse me... Even though I've now reached the seventh level of cultivation, I still often tremble with fear just thinking about that monster's terror. His cultivation level is definitely above the seventh level, and he might even have reached the ninth level..."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but look at Ye Jie. Among the people present, only Ye Jie had the ability to contend with an enemy of this level.

(End of this chapter)